Raphaël G. Git Repositories - youtubedl/blob - README.md

   1 youtube-dl - download videos from youtube.com or other video platforms
   2
   3 # SYNOPSIS
   4 **youtube-dl** [OPTIONS] URL [URL...]
   5
   6 # INSTALLATION
   7
   8 To install it right away for all UNIX users (Linux, OS X, etc.), type:
   9
  10     sudo curl https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl -o /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
  11     sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
  12
  13 If you do not have curl, you can alternatively use a recent wget:
  14
  15     sudo wget https://yt-dl.org/downloads/latest/youtube-dl -O /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
  16     sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/youtube-dl
  17
  18 Windows users can [download a .exe file](https://yt-dl.org/latest/youtube-dl.exe) and place it in their home directory or any other location on their [PATH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_%28variable%29).
  19
  20 Alternatively, refer to the developer instructions below for how to check out and work with the git repository. For further options, including PGP signatures, see https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html .
  21
  22 # DESCRIPTION
  23 **youtube-dl** is a small command-line program to download videos from
  24 YouTube.com and a few more sites. It requires the Python interpreter, version
  25 2.6, 2.7, or 3.3+, and it is not platform specific. It should work on
  26 your Unix box, on Windows or on Mac OS X. It is released to the public domain,
  27 which means you can modify it, redistribute it or use it however you like.
  28
  29 # OPTIONS
  30     -h, --help                       print this help text and exit
  31     --version                        print program version and exit
  32     -U, --update                     update this program to latest version. Make
  33                                      sure that you have sufficient permissions
  34                                      (run with sudo if needed)
  35     -i, --ignore-errors              continue on download errors, for example to
  36                                      skip unavailable videos in a playlist
  37     --abort-on-error                 Abort downloading of further videos (in the
  38                                      playlist or the command line) if an error
  39                                      occurs
  40     --dump-user-agent                display the current browser identification
  41     --list-extractors                List all supported extractors and the URLs
  42                                      they would handle
  43     --extractor-descriptions         Output descriptions of all supported
  44                                      extractors
  45     --proxy URL                      Use the specified HTTP/HTTPS proxy. Pass in
  46                                      an empty string (--proxy "") for direct
  47                                      connection
  48     --socket-timeout None            Time to wait before giving up, in seconds
  49     --default-search PREFIX          Use this prefix for unqualified URLs. For
  50                                      example "gvsearch2:" downloads two videos
  51                                      from google videos for  youtube-dl "large
  52                                      apple". Use the value "auto" to let
  53                                      youtube-dl guess ("auto_warning" to emit a
  54                                      warning when guessing). "error" just throws
  55                                      an error. The default value "fixup_error"
  56                                      repairs broken URLs, but emits an error if
  57                                      this is not possible instead of searching.
  58     --ignore-config                  Do not read configuration files. When given
  59                                      in the global configuration file /etc
  60                                      /youtube-dl.conf: do not read the user
  61                                      configuration in ~/.config/youtube-dl.conf
  62                                      (%APPDATA%/youtube-dl/config.txt on
  63                                      Windows)
  64
  65 ## Video Selection:
  66     --playlist-start NUMBER          playlist video to start at (default is 1)
  67     --playlist-end NUMBER            playlist video to end at (default is last)
  68     --match-title REGEX              download only matching titles (regex or
  69                                      caseless sub-string)
  70     --reject-title REGEX             skip download for matching titles (regex or
  71                                      caseless sub-string)
  72     --max-downloads NUMBER           Abort after downloading NUMBER files
  73     --min-filesize SIZE              Do not download any videos smaller than
  74                                      SIZE (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
  75     --max-filesize SIZE              Do not download any videos larger than SIZE
  76                                      (e.g. 50k or 44.6m)
  77     --date DATE                      download only videos uploaded in this date
  78     --datebefore DATE                download only videos uploaded on or before
  79                                      this date (i.e. inclusive)
  80     --dateafter DATE                 download only videos uploaded on or after
  81                                      this date (i.e. inclusive)
  82     --min-views COUNT                Do not download any videos with less than
  83                                      COUNT views
  84     --max-views COUNT                Do not download any videos with more than
  85                                      COUNT views
  86     --no-playlist                    download only the currently playing video
  87     --age-limit YEARS                download only videos suitable for the given
  88                                      age
  89     --download-archive FILE          Download only videos not listed in the
  90                                      archive file. Record the IDs of all
  91                                      downloaded videos in it.
  92     --include-ads                    Download advertisements as well
  93                                      (experimental)
  94     --youtube-include-dash-manifest  Try to download the DASH manifest on
  95                                      YouTube videos (experimental)
  96
  97 ## Download Options:
  98     -r, --rate-limit LIMIT           maximum download rate in bytes per second
  99                                      (e.g. 50K or 4.2M)
 100     -R, --retries RETRIES            number of retries (default is 10)
 101     --buffer-size SIZE               size of download buffer (e.g. 1024 or 16K)
 102                                      (default is 1024)
 103     --no-resize-buffer               do not automatically adjust the buffer
 104                                      size. By default, the buffer size is
 105                                      automatically resized from an initial value
 106                                      of SIZE.
 107
 108 ## Filesystem Options:
 109     -a, --batch-file FILE            file containing URLs to download ('-' for
 110                                      stdin)
 111     --id                             use only video ID in file name
 112     -A, --auto-number                number downloaded files starting from 00000
 113     -o, --output TEMPLATE            output filename template. Use %(title)s to
 114                                      get the title, %(uploader)s for the
 115                                      uploader name, %(uploader_id)s for the
 116                                      uploader nickname if different,
 117                                      %(autonumber)s to get an automatically
 118                                      incremented number, %(ext)s for the
 119                                      filename extension, %(format)s for the
 120                                      format description (like "22 - 1280x720" or
 121                                      "HD"), %(format_id)s for the unique id of
 122                                      the format (like Youtube's itags: "137"),
 123                                      %(upload_date)s for the upload date
 124                                      (YYYYMMDD), %(extractor)s for the provider
 125                                      (youtube, metacafe, etc), %(id)s for the
 126                                      video id, %(playlist)s for the playlist the
 127                                      video is in, %(playlist_index)s for the
 128                                      position in the playlist and %% for a
 129                                      literal percent. %(height)s and %(width)s
 130                                      for the width and height of the video
 131                                      format. %(resolution)s for a textual
 132                                      description of the resolution of the video
 133                                      format. Use - to output to stdout. Can also
 134                                      be used to download to a different
 135                                      directory, for example with -o '/my/downloa
 136                                      ds/%(uploader)s/%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s' .
 137     --autonumber-size NUMBER         Specifies the number of digits in
 138                                      %(autonumber)s when it is present in output
 139                                      filename template or --auto-number option
 140                                      is given
 141     --restrict-filenames             Restrict filenames to only ASCII
 142                                      characters, and avoid "&" and spaces in
 143                                      filenames
 144     -t, --title                      [deprecated] use title in file name
 145                                      (default)
 146     -l, --literal                    [deprecated] alias of --title
 147     -w, --no-overwrites              do not overwrite files
 148     -c, --continue                   force resume of partially downloaded files.
 149                                      By default, youtube-dl will resume
 150                                      downloads if possible.
 151     --no-continue                    do not resume partially downloaded files
 152                                      (restart from beginning)
 153     --no-part                        do not use .part files
 154     --no-mtime                       do not use the Last-modified header to set
 155                                      the file modification time
 156     --write-description              write video description to a .description
 157                                      file
 158     --write-info-json                write video metadata to a .info.json file
 159     --write-annotations              write video annotations to a .annotation
 160                                      file
 161     --write-thumbnail                write thumbnail image to disk
 162     --load-info FILE                 json file containing the video information
 163                                      (created with the "--write-json" option)
 164     --cookies FILE                   file to read cookies from and dump cookie
 165                                      jar in
 166     --cache-dir DIR                  Location in the filesystem where youtube-dl
 167                                      can store some downloaded information
 168                                      permanently. By default $XDG_CACHE_HOME
 169                                      /youtube-dl or ~/.cache/youtube-dl . At the
 170                                      moment, only YouTube player files (for
 171                                      videos with obfuscated signatures) are
 172                                      cached, but that may change.
 173     --no-cache-dir                   Disable filesystem caching
 174     --rm-cache-dir                   Delete all filesystem cache files
 175
 176 ## Verbosity / Simulation Options:
 177     -q, --quiet                      activates quiet mode
 178     --no-warnings                    Ignore warnings
 179     -s, --simulate                   do not download the video and do not write
 180                                      anything to disk
 181     --skip-download                  do not download the video
 182     -g, --get-url                    simulate, quiet but print URL
 183     -e, --get-title                  simulate, quiet but print title
 184     --get-id                         simulate, quiet but print id
 185     --get-thumbnail                  simulate, quiet but print thumbnail URL
 186     --get-description                simulate, quiet but print video description
 187     --get-duration                   simulate, quiet but print video length
 188     --get-filename                   simulate, quiet but print output filename
 189     --get-format                     simulate, quiet but print output format
 190     -j, --dump-json                  simulate, quiet but print JSON information.
 191                                      See --output for a description of available
 192                                      keys.
 193     --newline                        output progress bar as new lines
 194     --no-progress                    do not print progress bar
 195     --console-title                  display progress in console titlebar
 196     -v, --verbose                    print various debugging information
 197     --dump-intermediate-pages        print downloaded pages to debug problems
 198                                      (very verbose)
 199     --write-pages                    Write downloaded intermediary pages to
 200                                      files in the current directory to debug
 201                                      problems
 202     --print-traffic                  Display sent and read HTTP traffic
 203
 204 ## Workarounds:
 205     --encoding ENCODING              Force the specified encoding (experimental)
 206     --no-check-certificate           Suppress HTTPS certificate validation.
 207     --prefer-insecure                Use an unencrypted connection to retrieve
 208                                      information about the video. (Currently
 209                                      supported only for YouTube)
 210     --user-agent UA                  specify a custom user agent
 211     --referer REF                    specify a custom referer, use if the video
 212                                      access is restricted to one domain
 213     --add-header FIELD:VALUE         specify a custom HTTP header and its value,
 214                                      separated by a colon ':'. You can use this
 215                                      option multiple times
 216     --bidi-workaround                Work around terminals that lack
 217                                      bidirectional text support. Requires bidiv
 218                                      or fribidi executable in PATH
 219
 220 ## Video Format Options:
 221     -f, --format FORMAT              video format code, specify the order of
 222                                      preference using slashes: "-f 22/17/18".
 223                                      "-f mp4" and "-f flv" are also supported.
 224                                      You can also use the special names "best",
 225                                      "bestvideo", "bestaudio", "worst",
 226                                      "worstvideo" and "worstaudio". By default,
 227                                      youtube-dl will pick the best quality.
 228     --all-formats                    download all available video formats
 229     --prefer-free-formats            prefer free video formats unless a specific
 230                                      one is requested
 231     --max-quality FORMAT             highest quality format to download
 232     -F, --list-formats               list all available formats
 233
 234 ## Subtitle Options:
 235     --write-sub                      write subtitle file
 236     --write-auto-sub                 write automatic subtitle file (youtube
 237                                      only)
 238     --all-subs                       downloads all the available subtitles of
 239                                      the video
 240     --list-subs                      lists all available subtitles for the video
 241     --sub-format FORMAT              subtitle format (default=srt) ([sbv/vtt]
 242                                      youtube only)
 243     --sub-lang LANGS                 languages of the subtitles to download
 244                                      (optional) separated by commas, use IETF
 245                                      language tags like 'en,pt'
 246
 247 ## Authentication Options:
 248     -u, --username USERNAME          account username
 249     -p, --password PASSWORD          account password
 250     -n, --netrc                      use .netrc authentication data
 251     --video-password PASSWORD        video password (vimeo, smotri)
 252
 253 ## Post-processing Options:
 254     -x, --extract-audio              convert video files to audio-only files
 255                                      (requires ffmpeg or avconv and ffprobe or
 256                                      avprobe)
 257     --audio-format FORMAT            "best", "aac", "vorbis", "mp3", "m4a",
 258                                      "opus", or "wav"; best by default
 259     --audio-quality QUALITY          ffmpeg/avconv audio quality specification,
 260                                      insert a value between 0 (better) and 9
 261                                      (worse) for VBR or a specific bitrate like
 262                                      128K (default 5)
 263     --recode-video FORMAT            Encode the video to another format if
 264                                      necessary (currently supported:
 265                                      mp4|flv|ogg|webm|mkv)
 266     -k, --keep-video                 keeps the video file on disk after the
 267                                      post-processing; the video is erased by
 268                                      default
 269     --no-post-overwrites             do not overwrite post-processed files; the
 270                                      post-processed files are overwritten by
 271                                      default
 272     --embed-subs                     embed subtitles in the video (only for mp4
 273                                      videos)
 274     --embed-thumbnail                embed thumbnail in the audio as cover art
 275     --add-metadata                   write metadata to the video file
 276     --xattrs                         write metadata to the video file's xattrs
 277                                      (using dublin core and xdg standards)
 278     --prefer-avconv                  Prefer avconv over ffmpeg for running the
 279                                      postprocessors (default)
 280     --prefer-ffmpeg                  Prefer ffmpeg over avconv for running the
 281                                      postprocessors
 282
 283 # CONFIGURATION
 284
 285 You can configure youtube-dl by placing default arguments (such as `--extract-audio --no-mtime` to always extract the audio and not copy the mtime) into `/etc/youtube-dl.conf` and/or `~/.config/youtube-dl/config`. On Windows, the configuration file locations are `%APPDATA%\youtube-dl\config.txt` and `C:\Users\<Yourname>\youtube-dl.conf`.
 286
 287 # OUTPUT TEMPLATE
 288
 289 The `-o` option allows users to indicate a template for the output file names. The basic usage is not to set any template arguments when downloading a single file, like in `youtube-dl -o funny_video.flv "http://some/video"`. However, it may contain special sequences that will be replaced when downloading each video. The special sequences have the format `%(NAME)s`. To clarify, that is a percent symbol followed by a name in parenthesis, followed by a lowercase S. Allowed names are:
 290
 291  - `id`: The sequence will be replaced by the video identifier.
 292  - `url`: The sequence will be replaced by the video URL.
 293  - `uploader`: The sequence will be replaced by the nickname of the person who uploaded the video.
 294  - `upload_date`: The sequence will be replaced by the upload date in YYYYMMDD format.
 295  - `title`: The sequence will be replaced by the video title.
 296  - `ext`: The sequence will be replaced by the appropriate extension (like flv or mp4).
 297  - `epoch`: The sequence will be replaced by the Unix epoch when creating the file.
 298  - `autonumber`: The sequence will be replaced by a five-digit number that will be increased with each download, starting at zero.
 299  - `playlist`: The name or the id of the playlist that contains the video.
 300  - `playlist_index`: The index of the video in the playlist, a five-digit number.
 301
 302 The current default template is `%(title)s-%(id)s.%(ext)s`.
 303
 304 In some cases, you don't want special characters such as 中, spaces, or &, such as when transferring the downloaded filename to a Windows system or the filename through an 8bit-unsafe channel. In these cases, add the `--restrict-filenames` flag to get a shorter title:
 305
 306     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc
 307     youtube-dl test video ''_ä↭𝕐.mp4    # All kinds of weird characters
 308     $ youtube-dl --get-filename -o "%(title)s.%(ext)s" BaW_jenozKc --restrict-filenames
 309     youtube-dl_test_video_.mp4          # A simple file name
 310
 311 # VIDEO SELECTION
 312
 313 Videos can be filtered by their upload date using the options `--date`, `--datebefore` or `--dateafter`, they accept dates in two formats:
 314
 315  - Absolute dates: Dates in the format `YYYYMMDD`.
 316  - Relative dates: Dates in the format `(now|today)[+-][0-9](day|week|month|year)(s)?`
 317
 318 Examples:
 319
 320     # Download only the videos uploaded in the last 6 months
 321     $ youtube-dl --dateafter now-6months
 322
 323     # Download only the videos uploaded on January 1, 1970
 324     $ youtube-dl --date 19700101
 325
 326     $ # will only download the videos uploaded in the 200x decade
 327     $ youtube-dl --dateafter 20000101 --datebefore 20091231
 328
 329 # FAQ
 330
 331 ### Can you please put the -b option back?
 332
 333 Most people asking this question are not aware that youtube-dl now defaults to downloading the highest available quality as reported by YouTube, which will be 1080p or 720p in some cases, so you no longer need the `-b` option. For some specific videos, maybe YouTube does not report them to be available in a specific high quality format you're interested in. In that case, simply request it with the `-f` option and youtube-dl will try to download it.
 334
 335 ### I get HTTP error 402 when trying to download a video. What's this?
 336
 337 Apparently YouTube requires you to pass a CAPTCHA test if you download too much. We're [considering to provide a way to let you solve the CAPTCHA](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues/154), but at the moment, your best course of action is pointing a webbrowser to the youtube URL, solving the CAPTCHA, and restart youtube-dl.
 338
 339 ### I have downloaded a video but how can I play it?
 340
 341 Once the video is fully downloaded, use any video player, such as [vlc](http://www.videolan.org) or [mplayer](http://www.mplayerhq.hu/).
 342
 343 ### The links provided by youtube-dl -g are not working anymore
 344
 345 The URLs youtube-dl outputs require the downloader to have the correct cookies. Use the `--cookies` option to write the required cookies into a file, and advise your downloader to read cookies from that file. Some sites also require a common user agent to be used, use `--dump-user-agent` to see the one in use by youtube-dl.
 346
 347 ### ERROR: no fmt_url_map or conn information found in video info
 348
 349 youtube has switched to a new video info format in July 2011 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 350
 351 ### ERROR: unable to download video ###
 352
 353 youtube requires an additional signature since September 2012 which is not supported by old versions of youtube-dl. You can update youtube-dl with `sudo youtube-dl --update`.
 354
 355 ### SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character ###
 356
 357 The error
 358
 359     File "youtube-dl", line 2
 360     SyntaxError: Non-ASCII character '\x93' ...
 361
 362 means you're using an outdated version of Python. Please update to Python 2.6 or 2.7.
 363
 364 ### What is this binary file? Where has the code gone?
 365
 366 Since June 2012 (#342) youtube-dl is packed as an executable zipfile, simply unzip it (might need renaming to `youtube-dl.zip` first on some systems) or clone the git repository, as laid out above. If you modify the code, you can run it by executing the `__main__.py` file. To recompile the executable, run `make youtube-dl`.
 367
 368 ### The exe throws a *Runtime error from Visual C++*
 369
 370 To run the exe you need to install first the [Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable Package](http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29).
 371
 372 # DEVELOPER INSTRUCTIONS
 373
 374 Most users do not need to build youtube-dl and can [download the builds](http://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/download.html) or get them from their distribution.
 375
 376 To run youtube-dl as a developer, you don't need to build anything either. Simply execute
 377
 378     python -m youtube_dl
 379
 380 To run the test, simply invoke your favorite test runner, or execute a test file directly; any of the following work:
 381
 382     python -m unittest discover
 383     python test/test_download.py
 384     nosetests
 385
 386 If you want to create a build of youtube-dl yourself, you'll need
 387
 388 * python
 389 * make
 390 * pandoc
 391 * zip
 392 * nosetests
 393
 394 ### Adding support for a new site
 395
 396 If you want to add support for a new site, you can follow this quick list (assuming your service is called `yourextractor`):
 397
 398 1. [Fork this repository](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/fork)
 399 2. Check out the source code with `git clone git@github.com:YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/youtube-dl.git`
 400 3. Start a new git branch with `cd youtube-dl; git checkout -b yourextractor`
 401 4. Start with this simple template and save it to `youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py`:
 402
 403         # coding: utf-8
 404         from __future__ import unicode_literals
 405
 406         import re
 407
 408         from .common import InfoExtractor
 409
 410
 411         class YourExtractorIE(InfoExtractor):
 412             _VALID_URL = r'https?://(?:www\.)?yourextractor\.com/watch/(?P<id>[0-9]+)'
 413             _TEST = {
 414                 'url': 'http://yourextractor.com/watch/42',
 415                 'md5': 'TODO: md5 sum of the first 10KiB of the video file',
 416                 'info_dict': {
 417                     'id': '42',
 418                     'ext': 'mp4',
 419                     'title': 'Video title goes here',
 420                     # TODO more properties, either as:
 421                     # * A value
 422                     # * MD5 checksum; start the string with md5:
 423                     # * A regular expression; start the string with re:
 424                     # * Any Python type (for example int or float)
 425                 }
 426             }
 427
 428             def _real_extract(self, url):
 429                 mobj = re.match(self._VALID_URL, url)
 430                 video_id = mobj.group('id')
 431
 432                 # TODO more code goes here, for example ...
 433                 webpage = self._download_webpage(url, video_id)
 434                 title = self._html_search_regex(r'<h1>(.*?)</h1>', webpage, 'title')
 435
 436                 return {
 437                     'id': video_id,
 438                     'title': title,
 439                     # TODO more properties (see youtube_dl/extractor/common.py)
 440                 }
 441
 442
 443 5. Add an import in [`youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py).
 444 6. Run `python test/test_download.py TestDownload.test_YourExtractor`. This *should fail* at first, but you can continually re-run it until you're done.
 445 7. Have a look at [`youtube_dl/common/extractor/common.py`](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py) for possible helper methods and a [detailed description of what your extractor should return](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/extractor/common.py#L38). Add tests and code for as many as you want.
 446 8. If you can, check the code with [pyflakes](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyflakes) (a good idea) and [pep8](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pep8) (optional, ignore E501).
 447 9. When the tests pass, [add](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-add.html) the new files and [commit](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-commit.html) them and [push](https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-push.html) the result, like this:
 448
 449         $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/__init__.py
 450         $ git add youtube_dl/extractor/yourextractor.py
 451         $ git commit -m '[yourextractor] Add new extractor'
 452         $ git push origin yourextractor
 453
 454 10. Finally, [create a pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/creating-a-pull-request). We'll then review and merge it.
 455
 456 In any case, thank you very much for your contributions!
 457
 458 # BUGS
 459
 460 Bugs and suggestions should be reported at: <https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/issues> . Unless you were prompted so or there is another pertinent reason (e.g. GitHub fails to accept the bug report), please do not send bug reports via personal email.
 461
 462 Please include the full output of the command when run with `--verbose`. The output (including the first lines) contain important debugging information. Issues without the full output are often not reproducible and therefore do not get solved in short order, if ever.
 463
 464 For discussions, join us in the irc channel #youtube-dl on freenode.
 465
 466 When you submit a request, please re-read it once to avoid a couple of mistakes (you can and should use this as a checklist):
 467
 468 ### Is the description of the issue itself sufficient?
 469
 470 We often get issue reports that we cannot really decipher. While in most cases we eventually get the required information after asking back multiple times, this poses an unnecessary drain on our resources. Many contributors, including myself, are also not native speakers, so we may misread some parts.
 471
 472 So please elaborate on what feature you are requesting, or what bug you want to be fixed. Make sure that it's obvious
 473
 474 - What the problem is
 475 - How it could be fixed
 476 - How your proposed solution would look like
 477
 478 If your report is shorter than two lines, it is almost certainly missing some of these, which makes it hard for us to respond to it. We're often too polite to close the issue outright, but the missing info makes misinterpretation likely. As a commiter myself, I often get frustrated by these issues, since the only possible way for me to move forward on them is to ask for clarification over and over.
 479
 480 For bug reports, this means that your report should contain the *complete* output of youtube-dl when called with the -v flag. The error message you get for (most) bugs even says so, but you would not believe how many of our bug reports do not contain this information.
 481
 482 Site support requests **must contain an example URL**. An example URL is a URL you might want to download, like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaW_jenozKc . There should be an obvious video present. Except under very special circumstances, the main page of a video service (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/ ) is *not* an example URL.
 483
 484 ###  Are you using the latest version?
 485
 486 Before reporting any issue, type youtube-dl -U. This should report that you're up-to-date. About 20% of the reports we receive are already fixed, but people are using outdated versions. This goes for feature requests as well.
 487
 488 ###  Is the issue already documented?
 489
 490 Make sure that someone has not already opened the issue you're trying to open. Search at the top of the window or at https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/search?type=Issues . If there is an issue, feel free to write something along the lines of "This affects me as well, with version 2015.01.01. Here is some more information on the issue: ...". While some issues may be old, a new post into them often spurs rapid activity.
 491
 492 ###  Why are existing options not enough?
 493
 494 Before requesting a new feature, please have a quick peek at [the list of supported options](https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/README.md#synopsis). Many feature requests are for features that actually exist already! Please, absolutely do show off your work in the issue report and detail how the existing similar options do *not* solve your problem.
 495
 496 ###  Is there enough context in your bug report?
 497
 498 People want to solve problems, and often think they do us a favor by breaking down their larger problems (e.g. wanting to skip already downloaded files) to a specific request (e.g. requesting us to look whether the file exists before downloading the info page). However, what often happens is that they break down the problem into two steps: One simple, and one impossible (or extremely complicated one).
 499
 500 We are then presented with a very complicated request when the original problem could be solved far easier, e.g. by recording the downloaded video IDs in a separate file. To avoid this, you must include the greater context where it is non-obvious. In particular, every feature request that does not consist of adding support for a new site should contain a use case scenario that explains in what situation the missing feature would be useful.
 501
 502 ###  Does the issue involve one problem, and one problem only?
 503
 504 Some of our users seem to think there is a limit of issues they can or should open. There is no limit of issues they can or should open. While it may seem appealing to be able to dump all your issues into one ticket, that means that someone who solves one of your issues cannot mark the issue as closed. Typically, reporting a bunch of issues leads to the ticket lingering since nobody wants to attack that behemoth, until someone mercifully splits the issue into multiple ones.
 505
 506 In particular, every site support request issue should only pertain to services at one site (generally under a common domain, but always using the same backend technology). Do not request support for vimeo user videos, Whitehouse podcasts, and Google Plus pages in the same issue. Also, make sure that you don't post bug reports alongside feature requests. As a rule of thumb, a feature request does not include outputs of youtube-dl that are not immediately related to the feature at hand. Do not post reports of a network error alongside the request for a new video service.
 507
 508 ###  Is anyone going to need the feature?
 509
 510 Only post features that you (or an incapicated friend you can personally talk to) require. Do not post features because they seem like a good idea. If they are really useful, they will be requested by someone who requires them.
 511
 512 ###  Is your question about youtube-dl?
 513
 514 It may sound strange, but some bug reports we receive are completely unrelated to youtube-dl and relate to a different or even the reporter's own application. Please make sure that you are actually using youtube-dl. If you are using a UI for youtube-dl, report the bug to the maintainer of the actual application providing the UI. On the other hand, if your UI for youtube-dl fails in some way you believe is related to youtube-dl, by all means, go ahead and report the bug.
 515
 516 # COPYRIGHT
 517
 518 youtube-dl is released into the public domain by the copyright holders.
 519
 520 This README file was originally written by Daniel Bolton (<https://github.com/dbbolton>) and is likewise released into the public domain.